Category: News of the Weird

When I saw the latest screed from that very living embodiment of crank magnetism, Mike Adams, I chuckled. I sent it around to some fellow skeptics, including, for instance, the crew at The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe, as well as acquaintances and friends of mine because I couldn’t believe it. Adams, as loony as he is, had topped himself. In the meantime, I couldn’t decide whether or not to write about it, particularly after Steve Novella took a swipe at it. After all, there are things that are so loony, so out there, that one seriously has to worry …

You know, even though I haven’t lived in Cleveland since 1996, sometimes I kind of miss Ohio. Here’s the sort of reason why, via Balloon Juice: I thought it was a hoax at first, but it isn’t. Just check out the the official website of the Governor of the State of Ohio if you don’t believe me. I must admit a little chuckle of schadenfreude here.

Among the most bizarre and risible conspiracy theories currently going around, rising to the top (or near the top) has to be notion that President Obama was not actually born in the United States and therefore is not a U.S. citizen and not eligible to be President of the United States. Indeed, ever since the heat of the 2008 election, this particular unsinkable rubber duck of a conspiracy theory keeps getting slapped down by reason and evidence, only to rise to the surface again and again and again. It’s truly a wingnut paradise, because, quite frankly, the people who passionately …

Words fail me. How anyone can be so callous beggars imagination. Yeah, sure, Jennifer Petkov ultimately apologized, but only after news of her vileness was spread far and wide around the world. Worse, it was one of those “not-pologies” where Petkov said she was sorry “if anyone was hurt” not that she was sorry for having behaved despicably and thereby having caused that hurt, all topped off with an utterly lame and completely unbelievable lie that she “never really meant any ill wishes towards” Kathleen Edward or her family. And, yes, wearing the glasses was a nice obviously cynical touch. …

I forgot to mention on Friday that I’m currently in Chicago attending the ASCO meeting. It’s a lot of fun seeing the latest that science-based medicine has to offer, although ASCO isn’t always my cup of tea. The reason is that it’s very heavily based in medical oncology and chemotherapy, and there aren’t a lot of surgical talks. Another reason is that it’s a clinical meeting; so there isn’t a lot of basic science. Still, there’s plenty to keep my busy, and my blogging may be irregular over the next couple of days. Worse comes to worst, I’ll post a …

Feeling stressed? Run down? Is your face not as chipper and toned as it might be? Of course you are. We all are from time to time, particularly as we journey into middle age and beyond. So what better than a bit of pampering at the spa? There’s nothing like a soothing facial to get the skin toned and the face all relaxed. But what kind of facial? What is best to get that blood flowing, those dead skin cells exfoliated, and that skin all toned and tight? Bird poop, of course. Just check out the Ten Thousand Waves spa …

Mike Adams is confused. I know, I know. Such a statement is akin to saying that water is wet (and that it doesn’t have memory, at least not the mystical magical memories ascribed to it by homeopaths), that the sun rises in the East, or that writing an NIH R01 grant is hard, but there you go. Speaking of writing an NIH R01, that’s exactly what I’m doing now, hence the decreased blogorrhea over the last few days, but sometimes trying to cram a five year project into the 13 pages (one page for specific aims and twelve to describe …

We all know that Mike Adams, a.k.a. the “Health Ranger,” is anti-vaccine to the core. He’s known for NaturalNews.com, a repository of quackery, anti-vaccine craziness, and conspiracy theories that rivals Whale.to but in a much slicker fashion. Now, unfortunately, I learn that he’s going multimedia. Worse, Mike Rangers, who is about as white bread and un-hip-hop a guy as I can imagine, thinks he can rap: The song is called “Don’t Inject Me (The Swine Flu Vaccine Song).” The common lies about the swine flu are all there: The claim that flu vaccines don’t work; the paranoid delusion that the …

This reminds me of my trip to England two years ago, when my wife and I did visit Stonehenge: However, what I’d really love is to have the title this guy has: Druid King Arthur Pendragon told the BBC shortly before sunrise: “It’s a very nice atmosphere and everything’s fine at the moment. “There have been more police present this year, more security, but everything’s passed off very jovially and everyone’s in a good mood. “And the police for the most part are wishing people a happy solstice and so are the security guards.” Druid King? How cool is that? …

Here’s one of the stranger “alternative cancer cure” cases I’ve seen in a while. Basically, a man seems to think that a daily helping of his daughter’s breast milk will cure his metastatic colon cancer: When Tim Browne sits down to a bowl of corn flakes in the morning, he slurps up one unusual, and controversial, extra ingredient: his own daughter’s breast milk. He doesn’t do it for the taste — Browne initally said his daughter Georgia’s breast millk tasted “not unpleasant, but slightly pungent” — but for his health. Nearly two years ago, the retired teacher and musician from …